


Six days

by donttouchtheneednoggle



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Arranged Marriage (attempted), Asexual Elyan (Merlin), Canon Era, Gay Elyan (Merlin), Gen, Golden Age, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Immortal Leon (Merlin), M/M, Multi, Oblivious Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Pranks, Temporary Character Death, also he's trans bc he's awesome, chapters will vary wildly in length but hopefully not in punctuality, everything's just good, i'm beginning to wonder at this point if i am actually of writing pov characters without adhd, not complaining, they/them merlinnnnnn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-13 20:49:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29906886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/donttouchtheneednoggle/pseuds/donttouchtheneednoggle
Summary: Merlin, Gwaine and Lancelot are going to visit Hunith, and Percival is going with them to babysit. With all his fellow chaotic bastards gone, how will Elyan survive?The answer, of course, is that he will look for trouble, and if he cannot find it he will create it.(Usually he finds it. Or it finds him)
Relationships: Elyan & Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Elyan & Gaius (Merlin), Elyan & George (Merlin), Elyan & Gwen (Merlin), Elyan & Leon (Merlin), Elyan/Percival (Merlin), Gwaine/Lancelot/Merlin (Merlin), Gwen/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 10





	Six days

“ _Surely_ he’s not nervous?” Elyan demanded.

Percival looked over to where Gwaine was pacing the other side of the courtyard from them, a wide grin fixed firmly on his face, and groaned. “Of course he is.”

Elyan rolled his eyes. “And he’s not the only one,”

Lancelot had just emerged from the direction of the stables leading his horse, looking strained. He headed straight over to Gwaine, laid a hand on his arm and began talking earnestly with him.

Percival wrapped his arms round Elyan’s waist from behind, and rested his chin on the top of his head. “What do you think they’re arguing about?”

Elyan hummed, fingers drumming patterns on his arms. “Who Hunith’s going to love more. Aka the other person. Self-deprecating idiots.”

“They’ve met her before, she loves them as much as any of us.”

“Apparently being Merlin’s true loves is going to make her hate them.”

“Idiots,” Percival agreed.

To be fair, blood parents were kind of a big deal with with all of them, considering Merlin was the only one with any left to speak of (Literally. Gwaine never spoke of his). Elyan could get why their friends were nervous to officially meet Hunith as Merlin’s partners. They were still idiots.

Merlin appeared, also leading their horse. From the affectionate way they rolled their eyes, they too could tell what their boyfriends were feeling even out of earshot. They went over to them and and shoved them both playfully. Elyan snickered.

“Aaand now they’re going to make out,” Percival predicted.

Sure enough, Merlin looped their arms round Gwaine and Lancelot and kissed them both deeply.

Elyan grinned, and twisted up to press a kiss to Percival’s jaw. “We’ll make a seer of you yet.”

“When you fuckers are done spying on us,” Gwaine said loudly, pausing in groping his fellow Knight of Camelot and the Court Sorcerer to fix them with a glare.

Hearing of a bat, that one.

“I’m just saying, if you actually intend on riding anywhere you’re going to need a horse.” Elyan called to him.

Gwaine winked saucily, waggling his eyebrows. “Oh I plan on riding all right-”

Merlin whooped appreciatively, high fiving him. Lancelot, looking mortified, tried to hold back his grin.

“I should’ve left you in those tunnels last time we got lost under the castle,” Elyan muttered.

“But you didn’t!“

“All right!” Percival announced before they could really get into it. “Let’s go, before someone gets violently maimed! Gwaine, go find your horse.” Gwaine pouted like a child and let go of his lovers and stomped off.

Elyan sighed, and turned in Percival’s arms to bury his face in his neck. “Wish you didn’t have to go.”

Percival laughed softly. “Yeah. But gods know what would happen if they went alone.”

“Mhm,” Elyan grumbled.

That was the crux of the matter. Things tended to happen when Merlin Gwaine and Lancelot went places together alone.

The time before last, they had said they were going on a hunt despite the fact that they hated hunting because hunting was stupid, and had returned covered in claw marks. According to them they had been attacked by a bear, but Elyan had reason to suspect Gwaine had dared Lancelot to befriend the bear.

The last time, they had gone to Carleon on a diplomatic visit, and been escorted back by Annis’s soldiers all but holding them by the scruff of their necks. When Arthur had written to Annis enquiring as to why she had arrested three members of his court all he got back was ‘Crime. A lot of crime.’

So the trio were now forbidden from going further than the Darkling Woods alone together. At least in there the worst they’d encounter was badgers (and they did seem to encounter a lot of badgers).

But it did mean that they required a chaperone for such trips as this. And since Elyan, according to Leon at least, ‘exacerbated the problem’ (whatever that meant) it had to be the First Knight or Percival.

 _How_ Percival had managed to worm his way into that category, Elyan would never know (Actually, yes he would. The quiet ones were always the worst). Elyan loved him dearly, but Leon was a fool.

“I’m going to miss you so much,” Percival murmured, lifting Elyan onto his tiptoes so they could kiss.

Elyan smiled against his lips, his fingers curling into the rough fabric of his tunic (the travellers were all wearing casual clothes as this was not official Camelot business. A bunch of burly men clad in armour and bright red cloaks, and a skinny person swathed in midnight blue robes spangled with stars, tended to attract a lot of attention, funnily enough).

“You too,” Elyan mumbled. He took Percival's face in his hands and Percival obligingly dipped his head so he could kiss his forehead.

This was the first time since they’d got together that they’d be apart any longer than a patrol. Six days in fact: two to get to Ealdor, two days there, and two days to get back.

Squeezing his hands, Percival pecked his lips one more time, then went over to untether his horse just as Gwen and Arthur emerged from the castle and Gwaine reappeared leading his horse.

“Hey,” Elyan said as Gwaine rejoined the group and mounted up too. “You know she’s going to love you lot right? Really.”

Lancelot smiled a little and Gwaine’s grin got a bit more real.

Merlin rolled their eyes. “I keep telling them, they’ll see eventually.”

“Course they will,” Gwen joined in as she and her husband reached them. “It’ll be great.”

Arthur grimaced at Percival. “Good luck with this lot.”

Percival chuckled, unworried as ever. “Ah, it’ll be all right. Goodbye Arthur, My Lady.” He nodded respectfully to Gwen, who grinned back.

Then Arthur turned to the trio. Now he had to do the bit that Leon normally did, but that Leon wasn’t there at present to do.

“I’m warning you,” he began menacingly, eyeballing Gwaine, then Merlin, then Lancelot (all delusions of his ability to be sensible had long since dissipated. No one had ever believed it of Gwaine and Merlin in the first place). “If I get so much as an eyebrow raise from King Lot, I swear to all the gods I will… I’ll…” The king trailed off.

This was the problem with hiring people to be your family and then falling for the bastards, Elyan mused, as he and present company watched with interest as Arthur’s face turned puce trying to think of something to say. There weren’t many real threats you could make.

Gwaine, who could sense weakness as well as the badgers he wrestled, lit up in a wicked grin. “I’m terrified, Princess.” His expression relaxed into something more respectful and revoltingly sweet as he addressed Gwen. “Goodbye, your Majesty. All my best wishes stay with you.”

Gwen pressed her lips together, trying not to laugh. “Goodbye Gwaine.”

Elyan rolled his eyes.

“Bye Gwen!” Merlin waved enthusiastically. “Bye bye Clotpole!”

Arthur didn’t dignify that with a response. Gwen couldn’t stop herself from laughing now, pressing her face into Arthur’s shoulder.

Lancelot was looking heartily embarrassed. “Your Majesties,” he said respectfully, inclining his head.

“Kiss-ass,” Elyan heard Gwaine mutter under his breath as they turned and rode away.

With one last ‘ _Behave yourselves!’,_ Gwen and Arthur went back inside, but Elyan walked next to Percival’s horse as far as the end of the courtyard.

“You’re _sure_ you’re all right fourth wheeling with this lot?”

Percival grinned. “You know I’m well used to it. I just wish you were coming too.”

Elyan sighed and patted his calf. “Yeah, me too. But you know, ‘it would be frivolous to send any more knights on unofficial business’” - a credible impression of Arthur trying to sound as dignified as Leon purported to be.

Percival laughed. “Yeah yeah. Still, could be worse. I like Ealdor.” He smiled vaguely, and with a wrench to his heart, Elyan remembered how he had told him once that it reminded him of his village.

Elyan nudged Percival’s foot out of his stirrup so he could spring up and wrap an arm round his boyfriend’s neck, cradling him to his chest and kissing the top of his head.

“Love you,” he whispered. 

Percival twisted round to smile up at him: a proper smile, bright and dazzling. “Love you too,” he murmured before gently pressing their lips together.

When they drew apart he stroked his cheek, still smiling. “We’ll be fine, really. How much can happen in a few days?”

Elyan grinned. “Course you will. And not a lot. We’ll all be bored out of our minds, you’re taking all the nutters with you.”

Percival’s eyes sparkled. “Really? I thought you said you weren’t coming with us!”

Elyan shoved him playfully. “Oh, shut up.” He dropped lightly to the ground and took his hand, pressing one last kiss to his knuckles. “Take care love.”

Percival squeezed his hand. “You too.” He smiled one last time before wheeling his horse round and calling to his band which had gotten three different types of distracted over the course of their conversation and dispersed rather. “All right you horrors, let’s get going!”

“Take _care_ of him,” Elyan ordered Gwaine as he passed him, following Percival out of the courtyard.

“Upon my honour, Sir Knight!” Gwaine sang, swinging his arm in an exaggerated salute as he wheeled his horse round.

Merlin winked at Elyan as they rode past him. They at least had no delusions about the chaos that swirled around them. Not like-

“Don’t worry. I’ll keep them out of trouble,” Lancelot told him earnestly as he leaned down and clapped him on the shoulder, somehow managing to be even less reassuring than Gwaine by far.

Elyan watched them ride down the road waving, until even Gwaine’s windmilling arms were indistinguishable, then turned and headed back to the castle.

And thus commenced Day 1.

…………………

Leon, back from an early patrol, droned on and on. It was amazing how he could turn the search for a notorious warlord who led a large gang of bandits into the dullest thing you’d ever heard.

Elyan folded his arms on the round table and sank his head into them. He had been damn right in saying they would be bored out of their minds. Or rather he would be.

There was no Gwaine to kick under the table, no Lancelot to goad into misbehaving, no Merlin to do possibly dangerous magic whenever things got unacceptably slow, and worst of all no Percival to lean against when Elyan wanted a nap.

Leon droned on and on and on.

This was hell.

He considered folding the blank sheet of parchment in front of him into a dart and throwing it at his sister’s head. This would doubtless provoke retaliation and an interesting war, but sadly he would never do anything that could be misconstrued as disrespecting the queen in front of anyone but family.

His gaze drifted to Arthur, who was also staring into space. Probably thinking about food. You could probably get him to concentrate if he had food.

Elyan spent the rest of the meeting rocking back on his chair and debating the merits and drawbacks of having snack bowls at the round table while Leon darted disapproving looks at him.

He missed Percival already.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm going to try and update this regularly and might actually be in with a chance of succeeding as I've written the majority of it already!! Watch me make promises I may not be able to keep!!!
> 
> Comments and kudos appreciated <3
> 
> Come hang out on [tumblr](https://donttouchtheneednoggle.tumblr.com/)!


End file.
